Saints' bounty program

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Yeah, if everyone was driving drunk and driving drunk didn't make driving any more or less dangerous and you were fined 1 years pay and lost your job, yeah, probably be a bit of a bull [expletive] judgement against you.

You seem a little bitter about this, and I'm not sure why.

Every player isn't on the field to hurt someone. I think that's a ridiculous notion.

Because people seem to believe that the Saints Bounty Program and namely, Payton, Williams and Vilma are the extent of, not part of, the problem.

[pioneer98]

An NFL player they don't want to see a guy they hit injured is like a batter saying they don't want to see a pitcher's ERA rise.

No. A batter saying he doesn't want to see a pitcher's ERA rise would be like a running back saying he didn't want to run up the score.

[pioneer98]

The NFL did not become the #1 sport in America because 200 million people (or however many people watch it) are bloodthirsty savages that want to see huge men give each other brain damage or be carted off the field every week.

There is a percentage of those 200 million people that are 100% aware of the brutality and LOVE the sport because of it. Yes, they are out there. But they are not 100% of the NFL fans and viewers. In fact, those types of bloodthirsty fans are probably a minority.

There is another percentage of the fans that watch NFL games every week that simply want to be entertained, and assumed the NFL must be safe, or it wouldn’t be so mainstream. If they actually stopped and thought for 3 seconds about what they were watching and understood how truly brutal it was, they’d probably watch NASCAR or the NBA instead. But right now the NFL is “the thing to do” and it has an amazing marketing machine behind it that paints it as an all-American sport.

This is why this scandal matters. If people begin to realize that the NFL is not at all safe, and lose confidence that the league office is doing what it can to keep it safe….then the NFL likely loses a bunch of fans. Yes, it would still be popular. I’m not saying it’s going away. I’m just saying the NFL could become less mainstream if too many casual fans decide its not for them any more.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Not taking anything away from the game of football, but one of the main reasons it is so popular is because it gives guys a reason to eat, drink, smoke and joke with their buddies from 11-11 every sunday for like half the year.

The marketing is indeed a thing of geniousesnesness!!!

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Yeah, if everyone was driving drunk and driving drunk didn't make driving any more or less dangerous and you were fined 1 years pay and lost your job, yeah, probably be a bit of a bull [expletive] judgement against you.

You seem a little bitter about this, and I'm not sure why.

Every player isn't on the field to hurt someone. I think that's a ridiculous notion.

Because people seem to believe that the Saints Bounty Program and namely, Payton, Williams and Vilma are the extent of, not part of, the problem.

Who exactly are those people?

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Yeah, if everyone was driving drunk and driving drunk didn't make driving any more or less dangerous and you were fined 1 years pay and lost your job, yeah, probably be a bit of a bull [expletive] judgement against you.

You seem a little bitter about this, and I'm not sure why.

Every player isn't on the field to hurt someone. I think that's a ridiculous notion.

Because people seem to believe that the Saints Bounty Program and namely, Payton, Williams and Vilma are the extent of, not part of, the problem.

Who exactly are those people?

It's the precise message that this guy:



is sending to this place



and judging by the reaction of most people (eg, what was he supposed to do, nothing?), the message is being well received.

I understand you think it's because they lied about it. If that is the case, it's not the message being sent (as evidenced by Goodells statements in Chicago).

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I can't see those pictures, but from the titles, I imagine that it's Goodell and America. I think you're reading a bit too much into it if you're trying to imply by the punishments that they think the bounty program is a significant reason for the safety issues that have come up recently. Even if concussions weren't such a hot button topic, you still can't have a team organized/funded incentive program for hurting opponents, and you can't lie about it multiple times when the league asks you about it. To say that Goodell hammering the Saints means he thinks that the bounty issue is the main cause of player safety concerns is a substantial leap in logic.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

To say that Goodell hammering the Saints means he thinks that the bounty issue is the main cause of player safety concerns is a substantial leap in logic.

I don't believe he thinks that. But that is what he is selling to the public to clean up the NFLs image in the wake of all these player safety concerns.

And, yes it was Goodell and America!

[Socnorb11]

To say that Goodell hammering the Saints means he thinks that the bounty issue is the main cause of player safety concerns is a substantial leap in logic.

I don't believe he thinks that. But that is what he is selling to the public to clean up the NFLs image in the wake of all these player safety concerns.

I don't know what makes you think that's what he's selling. There's not a single person here, except for you, who believes that he's sending that message. So if he's trying to send that message, then he's doing a horrible job.

I think that the NFL has done a good job of trying to protect players, in what is a very physical game. I mean, the protection of quarterbacks and receivers has almost gotten to the point of overkill.

[pioneer98]

An essay by Sean Pamphilon, the guy who made the documentary and released the audio tape that started this whole mess. He was evidently encouraged by some players to release it. Find a comfortable chair, it's 10,500 words.

When you kill the head, the body doesn't die

Here is some commentary on it:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--saint ... rauma.html

EDIT: The audio tapes didn't start it. They were released ~ 1 month after the first suspension came out.